The Giants' youngest position player hasn't lost playing time despite early struggles

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SAN DIEGO, CA – MARCH 29: Steven Duggar #6 of the San Francisco Giants hits double during the third inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park March 29, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On the oldest team in baseball, the youngest position player on the roster is helping manager Bruce Bochy challenge a long-standing narrative.

Steven Duggar, 25, isn’t off to the type of start he envisioned, but Bochy and the Giants are letting him play through his struggles anyway.

“You want to stay behind these guys,” Bochy said. “Sometimes you have to make an adjustment and tweak the lineup, but it’s going to be important that we do stay behind him. I don’t want these guys to lose confidence.”

For years, one of the primary criticisms of Bochy has been the manager’s unwillingness to trust inexperienced players due to a desire to defer to veterans. Whether fair or not, Bochy has been saddled with a reputation as a manager who is reluctant to let young players learn through failure when they can instead learn while watching from the bench.

Bochy isn’t the only member of the Giants organization who has drawn this critique from fans, as previous general managers Brian Sabean and Bobby Evans were often chastised for their preference to build rosters around older, more experienced talent.

Though the Giants promised changes to their organizational philosophies under new president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, they still fielded the oldest Opening Day roster in baseball this season as the average age of their 25-man roster was 30.63 years.

Since Opening Day, the Giants replaced a pair of 26-year-olds, Connor Joe and Michael Reed, with a 27-year-old utility player, Tyler Austin, and a 30-year-old center fielder in Kevin Pillar.

The Giants aren’t embracing a youth movement, but they have demonstrated a willingness to let Duggar learn on the job. After taking just 141 at-bats as a rookie last summer, Duggar is 17-for-72 (.236) in his first 17 games.

Despite disappointing offensive production and a 31.2 percent strikeout rate, Bochy has kept the left-handed Duggar in the leadoff slot against right-handed pitchers. While few other players have given Bochy a reason to supplant Duggar or move them up in the lineup through their play, Duggar is grateful his manager has maintained confidence in his abilities.

“In the early go I’m just missing pitches I feel like I should have hit and the at-bat should have been over,” Duggar said. “You miss some of those pitches and you get yourself in some counts, these guys have elite put-away stuff so you try to battle as best as you can and trying to be in advantage counts is ideal for sure.”

Duggar enjoyed one of his best games of the season Tuesday against the Nationals, recording two hits including an opposite field home run against starter Stephen Strasburg. His 387-foot, two-run homer broke a 1-1 tie and gave the Giants a lead they never relinquished in a series-opening win.

“I know I’m at my best when I’m driving the ball to the opposite field so to see that today, you make a couple adjustments a couple of days ago and you stay with it, stick with it and trust yourself and trust something possible will happen,” Duggar said.

As the league continues to learn more about Duggar’s approach at the plate, adjustments and an ability to lay off pitches outside the strike zone will be key to his development. Duggar’s 2.6 percent walk rate is far below a percentage most leadoff hitters would find acceptable, but he’s been a victim of falling behind in counts quite a bit this year.

While the Giants have been excited about Duggar’s major league potential since a breakout minor league season in 2016, Bochy’s decision to keep him atop the lineup against right-handers remains a mild surprise. Old habits die hard, and the Giants already forced Duggar to leave his comfort zone once this season.

After the acquisition of Pillar, Bochy asked Duggar to move from center field over to right despite the fact his young outfielder led all of baseball with four defensive runs saved in center during the first week of the season.

Duggar has made a seamless transition to his new position, and it’s possible that not having to worry about losing his spot in the lineup has helped with the change.

Kerry Crowley is a multimedia beat reporter covering the San Francisco Giants. He spent his early days throwing curveballs in San Francisco’s youth leagues before studying journalism at Arizona State University. Kerry has covered every level of baseball, from local preps to the Cape Cod League, and is now on a quest to determine which Major League city serves the best cheeseburger.